Clockwork Angels The Novel

318 Pages·2001·1.15 MB·English

by  Anderson Kevin J

ADVANCE
READING COPY
I can’t stop thinking big . . .
That’s a line from “Caravan,” the first single from Rush’s new
album Clockwork Angels—definitely words to live by.
I have always drawn writing inspiration from music, and in par-
ticular from legendary rock band Rush. My first novel, Resurrection,
Inc. (1988), was closely inspired by their album Grace Under Pressure,
which also led to a long-standing friendship with Rush drummer
and lyricist Neil Peart. Over more than twenty years, I can point to
dozens of my other novels and stories that bear a clear Rush influ-
ence (and even, occasionally, offer a little bit of lyrical inspiration
in the other direction).
Neil and I wrote a dark-fantasy short story together,
“Drumbeats,” but we have always wanted to collaborate on some-
thing major, a way we could tie together our imaginations—and
we’ve achieved it at last with Clockwork Angels: The Novel.
The music in Clockwork Angels—the band’s twentieth studio
album—tells a wonderful dystopian story, ripe for fleshing out as a
full novel. In a young man’s quest to follow his dreams, he is caught
between the grandiose forces of order and chaos. He travels across
a lavish and colorful world of steampunk and alchemy, with lost
cities, pirates, anarchists, exotic carnivals, and a rigid Watchmaker
who imposes precision on every aspect of daily life.
Neil approached me about writing the novel version several
years ago while he was in the early planning stages of the album,
and we discussed the story as it developed, building the char-
acters, the adventures, the ideas, sometimes with a dozen e-mail
exchanges per day. (Neil is himself an accomplished writer, with
books such as Ghost Rider, Roadshow, and Far and Away.) As the album
came together, I began writing, armed with the lyrics for all the
songs and with Neil’s careful feedback, chapter by chapter, scene
by scene. We also had input from the artist Hugh Syme, whose
beautiful illustrations added even more ingredients to the mix.
Clockwork Angels: The Novel is an exciting, innovative project
that brings together music and prose, wrapped around a color-
ful, exciting story. Imagine if someone had written the novel of
The Wall, Tommy, or Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band when those
classic albums were released. For Rush fans, this is that dream proj-
ect—but not only for Rush fans, or Kevin J. Anderson fans, or
steampunk fans, or fantasy fans. We hope readers of all types will
fall in love with the story.
After all, we can’t stop thinking big . . .
—Kevin J. Anderson
v
For something like twenty years, Kevin and I have discussed
working on a project together that would marry music, lyrics,
and prose fiction. The right idea and timing eluded us for a long
time, but at last, both converged perfectly. It is as though that occa-
sion had to wait until both of us were truly ready, as mature artists
and—perhaps—as mature human beings, too.
With the novelization of Clockwork Angels, Kevin’s unparal-
leled world-building and story-building skills fully engaged with
my lyrics and their expressed ideas, and no writer could be more
“comfortable” in a steampunk world (a genre partly pioneered by
Kevin, after all).
Much of our shared conception (I know—the “marry,”
“engaged,” and “conception” series—metaphors of true collabo-
ration!) was worked through on a day off between two Rush shows
at Red Rocks in Colorado—when Kevin led me on a hike to the
top of Mount Evans. That was fitting, because it is the kind of
setting in which much of Kevin’s writing is created—dictated dur-
ing long hikes in mountains, deserts, and canyonlands. (Part of my
reason for setting the song “Seven Cities of Gold” in a landscape
resembling the American Southwest reflects both true history and
our shared love for that region.)
As my 38 years with Rush will attest, I very much enjoy col-
laboration with like-minded artists. Working up this story with
Kevin was one of the easiest, yet most satisfying projects I have
ever shared—easiest because we almost always simply agreed with
each other’s ideas, and most satisfying because I am so proud of
the result.
When my bandmates and I finish a new album, we always hope
people will be as excited about it as we are—and that is just how
Kevin and I feel about Clockwork Angels: The Novel.
—Neil Peart

Kevin J. Anderson
from a story and lyrics by Neil Peart
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To Olivia and to Harrison,
who are just beginning all the journeys of a great adventure

PROLOGUE
Time is still the infinite jest
It seems like a lifetime ago—which, of course, it was . . . all that
and more. A good life, too, though it didn’t always feel that way.
From the very start, I had stability, measurable happiness, a
perfect life. Everything had its place, and every place had its thing.
I knew my role in the world. What more could anyone want? For a
certain sort of person, that question can never be answered; it was
a question I had to answer for myself in my own way.
Now that I look back along the years, I can measure my life
and compare the happiness that should have been, according to the
Watchmaker, with the happiness that actually was.
Though I am now old and full of days, I wish that I could live
it all again.
v
Yes, I’ve remembered it all and told it all so many times. The events
are as vivid as they were the first time, maybe even more vivid . . .
maybe even a bit exaggerated.
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